Get a Free Credit Report Without the Extra Costs

Wed Jul 25, 2007 3:59AM EDT

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Nothing is ever truly free in this world, but a credit report is under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) which requires Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion to provide you with a copy of your credit report annually at no charge. You must either request your free credit report by calling 1-877-322-8228 or by visiting https://www.annualcreditreport.com. You can also print out this request form and order a copy by mail.

Why am I telling you this? I came upon an article that takes a closer look at all the other websites that claim to offer "free" credit reports. A search for "free credit report" returns links to sites like freecreditreport.com, freebiecreditreport.com, or freecreditreportsinstantly.com which seem to suggest you're getting what the URL says, a free credit report. The truth is dubious sites that advertise free reports are most likely trying to lure you into signing up for credit monitoring services or worse, they could lead you to a phishing site!

Even the Federal Trade Commission warns against these type of sites, "Only one website is authorized to fill orders for the free annual credit report you are entitled to under law – annualcreditreport.com. Other websites that claim to offer “free credit reports,” “free credit scores,” or “free credit monitoring” are not part of the legally mandated free annual credit report program. In some cases, the “free” product comes with strings attached. For example, some sites sign you up for a supposedly “free” service that converts to one you have to pay for after a trial period. If you don’t cancel during the trial period, you may be unwittingly agreeing to let the company start charging fees to your credit card."

And while one credit report per year is yours free thanks to the FCRA, credit scores are not, which is why people actually sign up for these type of services. But keep this in mind the next time you're contemplating taking a peek at your credit score, according to the Red Tape Chronicles most banks or insurance companies have their own formulas for computing your overall score, so paying for it may do you no good. Also make sure you read terms and conditions carefully before signing up for any free trials, since some of the terms they set can be extremely misleading.

$4,800 Bill for Turned-Off iPhones

Sun Sep 9, 2007 6:24PM EDT

Last month I told you about the fellow who, misunderstanding AT&T's international data plan and the amount of bandwidth the iPhone actually uses, ended up with a $3,000 bill after a couple of weeks overseas. Many felt unsympathetic, saying he should have known what the charges would be since AT&T was up front about the cost and he was responsible for how much data has was using.

Well now the story gets a little stranger: A family with three iPhones went on a Mediterranean cruise with their gadgets, but didn't even turn on the iPhones during the trip. When they got back, a $4,800 bill for international roaming was waiting for them. How? Because the iPhone, according to this Newsday story, checks for service updates and email whether it's turned on or off.

Sure enough, the fine print on AT&T's web site agrees: "Substantial charges may be incurred if phone is taken out of the U.S. even if no services are intentionally used."

But still, nearly $5,000 in charges for a phone that isn't turned on feels, well, a bit excessive. And stories like this are piling up to the point where class-action lawsuits are in the works, alleging that Apple (and AT&T, I assume) did not do a good enough job at informing consumers how much they'd have to pay if they stepped foot out of the country.

Memo to AT&T: Isn't it time to offer some real, unlimited international data plans for the iPhone? You know, like the ones you offer for all the other phones you sell?

Surprise' over gambling figures

Surprise' over gambling figures

The report examines attitudes to and the scale of gambling

The internet and other new forms of gambling have not led to an increase in people having a flutter since 1999, a Gambling Commission study has found.

In fact, due to a drop in the National Lottery sales, the numbers of people gambling fell from 72% in 1999 to 68%.

Commission chairman Peter Dean said more than 99% of adults who gambled did so harmlessly but there were still 250,000 "problem gamblers" in Britain.

Gordon Brown's spokesman said problem gambling had to be tackled.

The Gambling Prevalence Study questioned 9,003 people between September 2006 and March 2007 about 17 types of gambling - from scratch cards to casinos.

'No increase'

It looked at attitudes, the popularity of different types of gambling and the prevalence of problem gambling and followed a similar study in 1999.

Mr Dean said they had been expecting an increase in the number of gamblers, and the amount of problem gambling.

"It was something of a surprise, and a relief too," he told the BBC.

WHO GAMBLES ON WHAT National Lottery draw - 57% Scratch cards - 20% Horse races - 17% Slot machines - 14% Other lottery tickets - 12% Private betting - 10% At-a-glance: Gambling report In quotes: Reaction to report

"There have been more forms of gambling available in the intervening years - fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT) in betting shops, online gambling and so forth and the overall figures for online gambling are not up.

"There are a significant number of people who do gamble online, we've been tracking those, but as I say the overall result is there is no increase at all in problem gambling since the last survey."

The National Lottery remained the most popular form of gambling, but the amount of people taking part had dropped from 65% in 1999 to 57% in 2007, the survey suggests.

Betting terminals

Participation in all other types of gambling, excluding the lottery, had risen from 46% in 1999 to 48%.

Only 6% of those questioned had used the internet to gamble in the previous year, 3% had used fixed odds betting terminals and 4% gambled in a casino.

Problem gambling, measured using two systems, remained at the same level as in 1999 - 0.6% - equivalent to about 250,000 people.

HAVE YOUR SAY I don't know what the big deal about gambling is really. Nearly everyone has vices, it might be smoking, drinking, gambling or whatever Adrian Mugridge, Chester Send us your comments

This is higher than in Norway, but similar to Canada and New Zealand and lower than Australia and the US.

Professor Peter Collins, director of the Centre for the Study of Gambling, said he would like to see the number of problem gamblers being "a good deal lower", but said measuring them was an "inexact science".

"There are very severe problem gamblers whose tragic situation is quite as grave as any other addiction, but there are people with much less serious problems," he said.

Gambling Act

But the Conservatives said one in seven people who took part in "spread betting" were considered problem gamblers and argue new forms of gambling are creating more addicts - yet are most likely to be promoted on TV, under the Gambling Act.

Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "This report is two years too late. All the gambling legislation has now passed through Parliament with little prospect of serious amendment.

PROBLEM GAMBLING PREVALENCE Spread betting - 14.7% FOBT - 11.2% Betting exchanges - 9.8% Online gambling - 7.4% Online betting - 6.0% Dog racing - 5.2% Casino table games - 5.2% Bets with bookmakers - 3.9% Football pools - 3.5% Bingo - 3.1%

"The horse has well and truly bolted from the gambling stables."

The report will be used to measure the effects of the new Gambling Act, which came into force on 1 September, and brought casinos, bookmakers and online betting under one regulatory body.

It also made it easier to advertise casinos and online gambling sites on the television.

'No complacency'

The government said the report's findings were not "grounds for complacency" and it remained focused on protecting children and vulnerable people.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said a review will be carried out into the funding of gambling research, treatment and public education - currently supported on a voluntary basis by the gambling industry.

While the report shows that problem gambling still only affects a small minority of people, it does remain a serious issue Prime minister's spokesman

In July Mr Brown said the government's plan to use super-casinos to regenerate run-down areas would be reviewed, amid fears it could make gambling addiction worse.

On Wednesday his spokesman said: "While the report shows that problem gambling still only affects a small minority of people, it does remain a serious issue and something that has to be addressed.

"The prime minister said in July that the issue relating to a super-casino is whether or not this is the best way of meeting our regeneration objectives.

"He is obviously sceptical about that."

That review is due to be published later this autumn and the spokesman said the Gambling Commission's report would be an "important consideration".

Virtual worlds opened up to all

By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco

The tool could be embedded in blogs as well as used in gaming Metaplace demo

A free tool that allows anyone to create a virtual world has been launched.

Users of Metaplace, as it is known, can build 3D online worlds for PCs or even a mobile phone without any knowledge of complex computer languages.

The web-based program is the brainchild of Raph Koster, one of the developers of massively multiplayer online games such as Ultima Online.

Users make the virtual spaces from simple building blocks.

The results, which could be used for gaming, socialising or e-commerce, can be embedded in a webpage, facebook profile or blog.

"We are out to democratise virtual worlds and bring them to absolutely anybody," said Mr Koster, founder of Areae, the company behind Metaplace.

"You can come to the site, press a button and have a functioning virtual world that supports multiple users in about 30 seconds."

Web puzzle

Second Life is one of the most popular virtual worlds

There are already a number of popular virtual worlds such as Second Life, There and Entropia Universe. In addition there are games worlds such as World of Warcraft (WOW).

Most of these require a person to download specialist software or buy a game and there are no links between the different universes.

"They're all walled gardens," said Mr Koster.

In contrast, Metaplace is entirely web based and connections can be made between all of the different worlds.

"We modelled this on the web," said Mr Koster. "You can think about each world being a webpage and every object within in it is a link."

Users can create the worlds using different methods.

People with no programming background can use the graphical interface and choose worlds from a number of templates, such as a shop or a puzzle game.

They can also clone worlds developed by other Metaplace users.

More competent visitors to the site can build a world from scratch using the tool's own programming language known as metamarkup.

The language is "platform agnostic", according to Mr Koster, which means that it can be used to create worlds which can run on anything from a powerful PC to a mobile handset.

User control

We want to see 10,000 virtual worlds so that lots of wild and crazy stuff gets made because that is the only way it will advance as a medium Raph Koster, founder, Areae

Mr Koster believes the tool will be used to create a wide variety of different virtual worlds including chatrooms, games similar to WOW, or teaching environments.

"Others may want to make a book club that is integrated with Amazon where people can get together and chat every Thursday night about a book but they can actually see the pictures of the books on the wall, click on them and buy them," said Mr Koster.

"The applications are pretty open."

When complete, each world is given its own page on the Metaplace website.

"You can mail that to somebody, they click on it and they are logged in to your world."

Visitors will also find a forum, user ratings, wiki and other "community tools" associated with each page. For example, users will be able to suggest an age rating for each page.

As each world is based on standard web technology they can also be embedded in blogs, a facebook profile, myspace page or website.

"It becomes just another piece of the web - another way to display content and information," he said.

'Crazy worlds'

Mr Koster says he developed Metaplace partly as a reaction to some of the already established virtual worlds.

He believes the medium has "enormous potential" but because of the cost of building them developers have never pushed the boundaries.

"There's a huge amount of conservatism about what virtual worlds can be because it takes such a huge investment," said Mr Koster.

Developers, he said, cannot afford to get it wrong when they are juggling multi million pound budgets.

He hopes that his free tool will start to solve this.

"We want to see 10,000 virtual worlds so that lots of wild and crazy stuff gets made because that is the only way it will advance as a medium."

The program is currently going through testing and the final version will be made available to the public in spring 2008.

Tiny wind engines cool computers

The idea is to create a breeze that wafts over computer chips

Minuscule wind engines could help to take computing power to the next level, scientists believe.

US researchers have developed a prototype device that creates a "breeze" made up of charged particles, or ions, to cool computer chips.

The "ionic wind", the scientists say, will help to manage the heat generated by increasingly powerful, yet ever-shrinking devices.

The research is to be published in the Journal of Applied Physics.

As computers grow increasingly powerful, computer chips are becoming more and more densely packed with transistors, the basic building blocks of microprocessors.

Timothy Fisher, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University and an author on the paper, said: "In computers and electronics, power equals heat, so we need to find ways to manage the heat generated in more powerful laptops and handheld computers."

Hot stuff

Conventional cooling technologies using fans are limited because they can suffer from air-flow problems. As the spinning blades waft air over a chip, the molecules nearest to the chip can get stuck and remain stationary, hindering the cooling effect.

But the new experimental wind engine employs a different strategy.

The prototype, which is attached to a mock computer chip, works by shifting charged particles from one end of the device to the other. As a voltage is applied to the ionic engine, positively charged particles (ions) are produced, and are dragged towards a negatively charged wire (a cathode), forcing constant air movement.

The team found the prototype engine boosted cooling

The researchers said that when it was used in conjunction with a conventional fan, air molecules, rather than getting stuck, were dragged across the chip's surface boosting cooling.

The team said the device had increased the cooling rate compared with a that of a conventional fan.

Professor Suresh Garimella, from Purdue University who is a co-author of the paper, said: "Other experimental cooling-enhancement approaches might give you a 40% or a 50% improvement (1.4 to 1.5 times the cooling rate of a conventional fan).

"A 250% improvement (3.5 times the cooling rate of a conventional fan) is quite unusual."

The researchers now need to miniaturise their prototype, making it 100 times smaller than its current size, which is a few millimetres.

Professor Garimella said that this would be crucial for applying the technology to the latest computers and consumer electronics.

If miniaturisation is successful, the team expects the device to be introduced into products within the next three years.

The research is a collaboration between Purdue University, in Indiana, and chip-makers Intel.

Big future beckons for tiny chips

Big future beckons for tiny chips

By Jonathan Fildes Science and technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco

Gordon Moore: "It's not the end of the road." Moore's prediction

The next step in the silicon industry's steadfast pursuit of ever smaller and faster chips has been unveiled.

Intel has shown off what it says are the world's first working chips which contain transistors with features just 32 billionths of a metre wide.

Their production means the industry axiom that has underpinned all chip development for the last 40 years, known as Moore's Law, remains intact.

Speaking to BBC News, Dr Gordon Moore said that he expected the proposition that bears his name should continue "for at least another decade".

"Eventually, however, we're down approaching the dimensions of individual atoms and that's clearly as far as we can go down the path of shrinking dimensions," he told the BBC News website.

Tiny technology

The "law", first articulated in 1965 and then revised in 1975 now states that the number of transistors on a chip should double every 24 months.

"It has become a driving force for the industry because competitors realises that if they didn't move at at least that rate they would fall behind technologically," said Dr Moore, co-founder of Intel.

For the last 40 years this has primarily been achieved by reducing the size of transistors and packing more of them onto a chip.

Transistors are the tiny electronic switches that form the basis of computer chips. The more there are and the faster they can switch, the more calculations chips can do.

Intel's next generation of chips have elements 45 nanometres wide Intel's new chips

The next generation of Intel chips, which contain transistors with features just 45 billionths of a metre wide (nanometres) pack 410 million transistors into an area the size of a postage stamp.

The Penryn chips, as they are known, will be available from 12 November.

Their successor, called Nehalem, will be launched in 2008 and nearly doubles the number of transistors on the chip, or die.

"Each die on here has 731 million transistors," said Intel's CEO Paul Otellini, as he showed off the next-generation chips at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.

Other companies also plan to release chips based on 45nm technology, including IBM, which along with partners Toshiba, Sony and AMD plan to sell chips in 2008.

Taking charge

Working at this tiny scale is not without problems.

Critical elements of the transistors, known as gate dielectrics, do not perform as well allowing currents passing through the transistors to leak, reducing the effectiveness of the chip.

To overcome this, Intel and others have replaced the gate dielectrics, previously made from silicon dioxide, with the metal hafnium.

The new materials' development and integration into working components was described by Dr Moore as "the biggest change in transistor technology" since the late 1960s.

Computer chips have got smaller and more powerful for years

Hafnium is a so-called high-K metal and has a greater ability to store electrical charge than silicon dioxide.

This class of materials will also be used in the 32 nanometre devices expected in 2009.

The first chips incorporating this technology were shown off by Mr Otellini.

The memory chips contained 1.9 billion transistors.

"What this does is start to give us the know-how, the confidence, to build mainstream microprocessors on this technology," said Mr Otellini.

Creative solution

Using Moore's Law as its basis, silicon manufacturers have already planned beyond these next generation technologies.

For example, devices with features 22 nanometres wide are expected to roll out of manufacturing plants in 2011.

Eventually, however, the industry is expected to hit a physical barrier: transistors will not be able to be shrunk any further.

At this stage, the chip industry may have to change the approach that has underpinned the last four decades of developments altogether.

But, Dr Moore does not believe that it will spell the end.

"It always looks like there is some very difficult problem but as we get closer the focus and the engineering that we bring to bear on it usually removes these barriers and allow us to go by them," he told the BBC.

"There is still a lot of room for creativity - it's not the end of the road," he said.